Twenty -one humanoid robots participated alongside thousands of corridors of the Yizhuang Half Marathon in Beijing on Saturday (19). This is the first time these machines have competed with humans in a 21 km course.
Robots, made by Chinese companies such as Droidup and Noetix Robotics, had a variety of shapes and sizes. Some less than 1.20m tall, others reaching 1.80m. One of the companies stated that his robot looked very much like a human being, with feminine features and able to blink and smile.
Some companies tested their robots for weeks before the race. They described the event as closer to a running car competition due to the need for engineering and navigation teams.
“The robots are running very well, very stable. I feel that I am witnessing the evolution of robots and AI,” said the viewer He Sishu, who.
The robots were accompanied by human coaches, some of whom had to give physical support to the machines during the race.
Some of the robots wore running sneakers; One of them appeared with boxing gloves, and another with a red track on his head with the words “intended to win” in Chinese.
The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, from the Beijing Humanoid Innovation Center, with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. The male winner of the race made the course in 1 hour and 2 minutes.
The center is 43% controlled by two state -owned companies, while the robotics arm of the Xiaomi technology giant and the leading company in Humanoids Ubtech robots have equal parts of the rest.
Tang Jian, the center’s technology director, said Tiangong Ultra’s performance was favored by his long legs and an algorithm that allows us to imitate the way humans run a marathon.
“I don’t want to boast, but I think no West robotics company has reached Tiangong’s sports,” Tang said, adding that the robot changed only three times during the race.
Difficulty robots
Some robots, such as Tiangong Ultra, completed the race, while others have faced difficulties from the beginning. One of them fell on the starting line and was lying for a few minutes before rising and starting to run. Another hit a grid after running a few meters, overthrowing his human operator.
Although humanoid robots have already appeared in marathons in China last year, this was the first time they ran side by side with humans.
China expects investment in cutting -edge industries such as robotics to help boost new economic growth engines. However, some analysts question whether the participation of robots in marathons is really a reliable indicator of their industrial potential.
Alan Fern, Professor of Computer Science, IA and Robotics at Oregon State University, said that, contrary to Peking authorities – that race requires “AI advances” – the software that allows humanoid robots to run has been developed and demonstrated for more than five years.
“Chinese companies have focused a lot on displaying walking, running, dance and other agility skills. These are generally interesting demonstrations, but they do not show much practical utility or any kind of basic intelligence,” said Fern.
Tang, the center’s director of technology, concluded: “Our focus from now on will be in industrial applications for humanoid robots so that they can actually get into factories, commercial scenarios and finally in homes.”
